Cigars and wine are often paired, seen as complementary expressions of high style, good taste, and sophistication. So it’s no surprise when a cigar maker, in this case Cusano, goes one step further and appropriates a wine term.

“Cuvée,” with its French origins, is often used by vintners to designate a special lot, particularly with Champagne. For its part, Cusano says it uses only a very select portion of the tobacco harvest for these cigars.

Getting straight information on this cigar is a little difficult. You’d assume Cuvée’s website would be the definitive source. But in one place it describes the Blanc as “shade-grown Connecticut and Peruvian tobaccos.” In another spot, the binder and filler are listed as Dominican. Similarly, the Cuvée site says the wrapper is U.S.-grown Connecticut; other sources say it is Ecuadorian.

The Blanc, which features four vitolas, is one of four Cuvée lines. The Toro—a six inch stick with a 54 ring gauge—is one of four Blanc sizes. It runs about $7 per stick. Physically, this example was first-rate.

The wrapper was smooth, the draw and burn excellent, and the smoke production copious. As you might expect, the Blanc is a mild cigar. The flavors were smooth and sometimes sweet. They tended to run toward grass, hay, and a little bit of nuts.

Overall, the Cuvée Blanc is pleasant and worth trying if you like mild cigars. But don’t be surprised if it fails to make a big impression. I think it simply lacks the complexity and subtlety that separate the OK from the excellent.

All things considered, I rate the Cuvée Blanc Toro three and a half out of five stogies.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

-George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys